Pomodoro Sauce
This recipe originated in a Highland Park, IL restaurant and was given to me by a former colleague who is largely responsible for my passion for cooking today. Amy and I have modified it over the years by using a mix of fresh tomatoes, vegetables, and herbs from our garden as well as using a food processor to reduce them to a silky smooth texture (I don’t like chunky sauce!)
The shopping list:
WINTER 3 x 28-oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes (we use store-bought (Muir Glen) because we haven’t learned to can our own yet!)
SUMMER An equal measure of fresh tomatoes from the store or your own garden
2 x carrots peeled and roughly chopped
2 x celery stalks roughly chopped
1 x yellow onion peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic chopped fine
2 tbsp olive oil
fresh basil (to taste)
fresh parsley (to taste)
1 tsp dried oregano
salt/pepper (to taste)
San Marzano tomatoes on the vine!
A mix of loveliness!
San Marzano, Early Girl, and Black Vernissage
When we use fresh tomatoes, we like to roast them first. The first step is to score them to make them easier to peel.
We drizzle them with olive oil, add roughly chopped garlic, and roast them on parchment paper for 30 minutes at 400° F.
Roasted and ready!
Remove the peels and any bad spots (which is why fresh are better for us) and place all the pulp, juice, and the oily roasted garlic in a soup/stock pot (or a food processor).
Bring up to medium heat.
Stir often so the tomatoes don’t stick.
Watch it while you proceed to the mirepoix below.
Mirepoix
Danvers carrot, Egyptian walking onion, Sicilian garlic, and Utah celery.
Growing your own vegetables really makes for a different-tasting sauce. The celery, onion, and garlic are all three have intense flavor (because they’re small!)
This carrot is probably a little larger than the two carrots called for in the recipe.
The four onions amount to the size of yellow onion I usually use.
The garlic is double what I (should) use, but I like garlic!
The celery is just under the amount you’d normally get from two regular-size stalks.
Chopped and ready!
Place the onion, carrot, and celery in a food processor and pulse to a pulp until there are no more chunks (25-30 seconds).
Finely chop the garlic.
Ready to saute
Heat a large stainless steel skillet to medium.
Add 2 TBSP olive oil.
Saute the chopped garlic until it starts to brown and become fragrant (about one minute).
Add the pulsed mirepoix and allow to cook for two minutes.
Add 1 cup of the chicken stock, season with salt/pepper, and continue to cook until most of the liquid is gone, moving the ingredients around occasionally with a wooden spoon until you see little bubbles (“pippiare”) appear after about 5 minutes.
Pour the mirepoix into the simmering pot of sauce. Stir well to combine.
Add the 2nd cup of chicken stock.
Season with salt/pepper.
Add freshly chopped basil, fresh parsley, dried oregano, salt, and pepper to taste.
Turn up the heat to medium-high until the sauce starts to boil. Then turn down the heat to a simmer.
Simmer for one to two hours or until the sauce reduces by 1/4 and starts to take on a “sauce” consistency. If it’s too watery, turn up the heat a bit and continue to reduce.
Be sure to stir the pot often and don’t let the tomatoes stick.
* Make sure to let the sauce cool for a while before you lid it and put it in the fridge… trapped steam could spoil all your hard work!
This sauce was brought to you by culinary expert Ryan McMahon!
Enjoy!